Running, Recipes, & Real Life

So I Did A Triathlon

And it was never a question of “am I capable?” But rather, would I actually enjoy this? Well, apparently so much so that I want more tri in my life, and I’m already aiming at the half ironman distance in Fall 2017.

The Guelph 1 Sprint Triathlon was both exhilarating and humbling. There were 29 people in my age/gender group (521 total competitors). And I finished 29th in the swim portion (guess that’s what happens when you go from never swimming to doing a triathlon in 5 weeks haha!) I finished 18th in my group, 411 overall, so I’m happy to have made up a bit for a slow swim. It wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as I’d imagined. I never felt panicked in the water and never had trouble sighting the buoys. I got boxed in near the end when a guy was breast-stroking in front of me and other swimmers were all around me. I didn’t quite have the knowledge or confidence to get around the guy in front me slowing it all down.

It was quite a long uphill sprint from the swim to the bike transition area. I wanted to walk so badly, but when you have tons of people watching you and everyone else is running, you don’t stop 🙂 I was on a borrowed bike being that I’m in Canada. It was a good bike, and I’m thankful to have even had one, but it lacked some oompf and I felt like I was working much harder than I’m used to. And this course had some pretty intense hills that I was thoroughly unprepared for. I obviously see some painful need for improvement!

My run was awesome though. My legs felt like bricks and the run course was very hilly as well, but I still had a time of 29 minutes. Considering this was my first time to experience all the transitions, that’s a great time for me. According to my stats I actually passed 46 people in the run, which I think is pretty awesome!

I don’t have this huge sense of accomplishment like I felt finishing the marathon, but this undoubtedly was some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a race. While out on the bike, the country roads and rolling corn fields beckoned to my heart. The skies are bigger here, and the white puffy clouds never end. It was a bliss you don’t have time to think about during a grueling marathon. More than ever I desire to be a stronger overall athlete. I’m ready to focus, get faster and get better. The ache for adventure and doing hard things only grows stronger and stronger.

Coming out of the swim, taking the wetsuit off and running to the bikesI only saw Josiah and was waving at him excitedly as I headed off on my run. I passed that girl in front of me 🙂The best post race beer I’ve ever had! It was called Erdinger and it’s non alcoholic and made to replenish athletes.